


Another Boring Night in Daggerfall

by Hequm



Category: Elder Scrolls
Genre: Daggerfall, Friendship, Gen, High Rock
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-16
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-05-13 02:17:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19241812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hequm/pseuds/Hequm
Summary: A Dunmer lass who acts far too immature for her age is getting cabin fever stuck in her party's inn room. Her mysterious Argonian companion invites her out for a drink, and a wholesome friendship ensues.





	Another Boring Night in Daggerfall

Maren couldn't focus on her book. She couldn't really focus on much of anything at the moment. She placed her copy of 'The Real Barenziah' down on the couch she was laying on and sat up, staring around the rather stately inn room. Despite being a large room, it still felt cramped by the five beds and multitudes of cabinets and tables lining the walls. Besides a few dimly lit candles on the other side of the room from her, the only glow was a dusty ray of moonlight shining through the sole window, barely illuminating the room. She could have slept in this light, even slept through the hushed bustle of nightlife audible a story below.

    Unfortunately, she couldn't sleep through the Breton and Redguard tossing and turning in the corner. There was just enough light for Maren to see the rustling of the sheets, if the sounds they were making weren't clear enough. No, she had to get out of this stifling room, just like Claudius and Garig had done an hour earlier. Granted, they were heading out to sell various items discovered during the group's last outing, but Maren was sure they were probably in one of the taverns out in the market district drinking her earnings away.

    Her scan around the room finally had her eyes meet with Vistha-Shei. He was finishing up mixing whatever strange concoction he had set about making hours before. She couldn't figure out if he was displeased with their companions saucy behavior in the corner, or just indifferent. Argonians were strange to her, even after all these years, and Vistha-Shei was stranger still. He took a great interest in the study and pursuit of alchemy, but he was no mage of any sort. In fact, there wasn't much else he WAS good at, as far as she could tell. He had an old short sword from Black Marsh with too many nicks to count, but he spent more time whacking foliage with it than any creatures they'd ran across. Maren could pick out what she assumed to be scars running along his scales, but they looked so worn and irregular that they could have been a part of his hide all along. Some sort of Argonian beauty marks, if you will. 

Vistha-Shei opened his mouth to speak. Maren didn't know how long she had been staring at him, perturbed look on her face.

"Want to grab a drink, little one?"

His scratchy voice was somehow audible through the noises in the corner. He blinked, his eyelids sliding horizontally across his eyes, and dragging themselves back to their original position. For a second, Maren almost expected him to follow up with a tongue whipping out and licking his face, like one of those tiny lizards back on the Telvanni Isles. 

"Sure, but the only money I have left is for important purchases; Claudius's orders."

Maren knew Claudius would have wanted them to stay and 'hold down the fort', but anywhere was better than this room right now; Especially as the window started to fog up with steam. Vistha-Shei stood up from his cluttered desk, bottles and equipment clattering as the weight of his resting arm shifted off of it. Maren could still hear a small fire crackling under an apparatus, one of his many potions on the literal back-burner. At least Vistha-Shei could be useful in his downtime. All she could do was read books and get in trouble. And 'The Real Barenziah' was getting boring at this point. You can only read the raunchy love scenes so many times before you start making up your own, and it didn't help being stuck sleeping in a room with five others; Not that it stopped two of her party.

"I'm sure Claudius wouldn't mind. We'll make the gold back, trust me." 

Maren wasn't certain if he was alluding to her coincidentally useful ability to get into places no one expected her to, whether it was a room or their coin purses, or if he had a greater plan. Vistha-Shei aired the heavy oak door and beckoned her out first. Whatever his plans were, she was assured to have a better time out in the city than stuck in this stuffy room.  

Stepping out into the streets of Daggerfall from the warm inn was a breath of fresh air for Maren, even if said air was a little nippy. 

"Follow me,” the old lizard croaked. “I know a good place. They might even serve you, little one." 

Vistha-Shei ribbed her age, a sore point for a member of such a comparatively long lived race. While, yes, at twenty-three she was considered practically a child by other Mer, Maren assumed Vistha-Shei was barely older than her. Maybe ten or twenty years. She scoffed and rolled her eyes at him as they walked. Despite it being well past sundown, the city life of the Market district was still bustling. Other mercenaries and adventurers browsed wears brought in from halfway across Tamriel. Maren was surprised Vistha-Shei even had an idea of where to go. He was all the way across a continent, as far away from home as possible, and she wasn't much better.

Sometimes she thought of returning home, but she had barely been away. A mere nine months, even if it felt like forever at this point. Besides, if she went back, there wouldn't be much to do besides go back to studying. That, and getting in trouble. It's not her fault studying was so boring. Father probably wouldn't even let her drink shein at dinner like the rest of her sisters. No, Maren swore she wouldn't return until she had some traveling under her belt and dirt from at least ten different provinces on her shoes. Yeah,  _ ten _ sounded like a good number... 

"Here we are. The Bronze Cauldron. Sounds like my kind of place, eh?" 

Vistha-Shei rested his hand on the doorway and turned his head to look at her, blinking, maw curled into what she assumed was a smirk and slightly agape, as if he had one more thing to say.  Maren couldn't tell if what he just said was a joke about his hobby or if he was being serious. Perhaps both. She pushed herself through the door while he followed.

The Bronze Cauldron was bustling with personalities, most of them obviously not from High-Rock, celebrating their most recent conquest or drinking to their unfortunate defeats. Maren realized how glad she was that she got stuck in with a group that had such a firm leader. If Claudius wasn't so controlling of everyone's finances, all of their gold would probably have been spent a long time ago on watered down beer in one of the many taverns scattered about the city. Granted, that was probably what Claudius and Garig were up to right now. Why else would selling some old gems take so long?

"I figure we could sit down and play a game of cards first.” Vistha-Shei shrugged. “Maybe earn back what we'll spend on drinks."

    So that was what he had been planning. If that's how he wanted to play, than Maren was more than happy to go along. In fact, she could just whip out her deck of ‘ _ Shenanigans _ ’ she's had since her tutelage under Master Areleth and--

"You can put those back, hatchling.” Her companion cautioned as he placed a claw on her hand. “You won't find anyone playing that here. Besides, in High-Rock we play for gold, not articles of clothing."

Maren wasn't sure whether she should be offended by the fact that Vistha-Shei stereotyped her as a bit of a wildcard, or surprised that he properly guessed how she usually played Shenanigans. The deck was slipped back into her vest pocket.

"We'll play Five Claws. Everyone knows how to play that, right?"

He was, of course, "right". Within several minutes he had formed a table of players, all prepared to wager their week's earnings on a simple game of cards. Vistha-Shei took the coin purse of the group's earnings and entered with a heaping handful of drakes from it. If he didn't seem so sure of himself when he did so, Maren would have stopped him. The cash specifically set aside for emergencies was being put to use gambling in a Khajiiti card game! She sat this one out; Despite Vistha-Shei’s previous comment on the game’s accessibility, it was foreign to her. Instead, she occupied her time watching the others play. 

    It seemed to be a game of chance, but there was some skill involved in tricking the other players into betting their money. You had to bluff the opponent into folding their hand, that is, if you didn't have a good hand yourself. If all opponents folded instead of calling your bluff, you win the pot. If your hand was a better hand than the others played, you won as well. Maren spent the game watching the players faces. For the most part, she could tell when they were lying. Vistha-Shei, on the other hand, was utterly alien to her. No matter how she watched him, she couldn't find a single 'tell' when he was bluffing. The stakes rose until their entire coin purse was on the line. The last cards were dealt. The Khajiit across from him smiled at his hand.

"Khajiit raises you,” the furry scoundrel challenged from across the table. ”He is all in." 

Vistha-Shei's face was a statue. This was it.

"Then I guess I'm all in as well," Vistha-Shei said. His eyelids slid slowly over his eyes in another blink. The Khajiit leaned in to taunt him.

"Don't try to bluff. This one is on to you, and this is one claw you won't be able to slither your way out of." He leaned back in his chair, splashing his cards onto the table in a flair, sure of his victory. 

"A straight flush. Try to beat that, Argonian."

The smug look on the Khajiits face made Maren want to pull his whiskers right off. A straight flush was one of the higher scoring hands! That was it, the group's entire emergency funds out the window to some overgrown housecat. Vistha-Shei flipped over the last card he was dealt from the table, then placed his cards down. 

"Royal Flush."

The entire table leaned over to view Vistha-Shei's deck. Sure enough, he had the best hand. Maren was astounded he was able to pull that off. He was stone-faced the whole time, as far as she could tell. They had made back their coin purse, and then some. Vistha-Shei collected up their earnings and took a seat at the bar with her. They pounded back shots of imported greef as they celebrated. 

"How do you stay so emotionless when you're playing?” Maren quizzed between shots. Her eyes watered as the alcohol burned down her throat. ”I could never tell when you were lying." 

"It’s actually quite easy," Vistha-Shei replied matter of factly. "No one knows how an Argonian's supposed to look anyway.” He leaned in for the next comment. “That, and I  _ might _ be counting the cards that had been played, but I wouldn’t tell any of them that if we want to walk out of here safely."

They finished off the bottle of greef and decided it was time to head home with their winnings. Hopefully Claudius hadn't already gotten back, or he was going to throw a fit about them leaving, especially with a coin purse full of gold. They had barely made it out the door before they found themselves stopped by a familiar, and particularly unwanted voice. 

"Well look who we have here, Ja'Zarin." The Altmer sorceress mewled to her furry bodyguard. "It's none other than Princess Ash-Face. And who might this be? Your lizardman boyfriend?"

"That was the most uninspired insult I've ever heard, Seraphina," Maren retorted in counter-attack. If you didn't pick up the obvious anger boiling from her voice, turning her face into the hue of Red Mountain, it might have been convincing. Maren needed to gain the upper hand, and fast, before Seraphina formulated an  _ actually _ intelligent offense.

"Besides, he isn't my boyfriend... Banana-legs."

A biting comeback, for certain. 

"Oh, don't try to fool me Dunmer. I bet you're out getting tipsy with your scaled lover. I've caught you bringing him back to your room, and now you're backpedaling to protect your reputation."

What reputation? Maren didn't know why Seraphina harassed her. She must have assumed Maren was a rival. Maybe it was because she was a Mer, or had some sort of nobility, if you would even call being the ninth daughter to a displaced Telvanni dust lord 'nobility'. If her nobility was really what put Seraphina over the edge, why didn't she pester half the Breton population here? Everyone claimed to be the cousin to some minor lord.

"You have this all wrong, Seraphina." Vistha-Shei finally broke his silence with a flourish and one of his odd toothy grins. "While young Mistress Maren and I are companions, it's of the completely different kind. I am her slave."

Maren tried her best to hide her surprise at Vistha-Shei's deception. She was glad he drew so much attention to himself with the overacted bow, otherwise Seraphina would have seen right through the ruse. Ja'Zarin snorted a chuckle out.

"If you're her slave, Argonian, than what’s to say you two still aren't bedding each other out of  _ daddy's _ view? I'm sure 'young mistress' here would love to roleplay 'The Last Scabbard of Akrash' with you."

How dare she quote such a fine piece of literature incorrectly. Every Dunmer maiden knows that the lover in 'Last Scabbard' was a Khajiit slave. Maren huffed in frustration.

"Quite the opposite, my fair lady," Vistha-Shei rebounded. "Master Telvayn sent me to look over our young mistress with one goal in mind; To protect her womanhood, so she may be easily married back on the Isles to a proper Telvanni lad. Now, if that will be all, I must escort the young mistress back to the inn."

And with that said, Vistha-Shei took a knee and looked back at Maren, hands creating a platform on his backside. It took Maren a moment to realize what he was trying to do. With an awkward shuffle, she mounted him like a strange bipedal beast of burden, looping her feet through his arms and planting her hands firmly on his shoulders.

"Please, excuse us," He croaked as he rose up. "So many things to do, so little time."

Vistha-Shei set off with a light jog, not enough to jostle the 'young mistress', but enough speed to give a sense of urgency. Seraphina stared at the display at a loss for words. Her bodyguard smiled at the absurdity of the display; Not that stranger acts hadn't been seen on the streets of Daggerfall. It wasn't until they had turned a corner, and traversed halfway down a narrow side street that Vistha-Shei finally stopped.

"Do you want down?" He tilted his head to his passenger.

"No. If you don't mind, of course."

Maren quite enjoyed the view from up here. It reminded her of the rides on the Silt Striders she used to take as a kid, traveling with Mother when she went on business. She probably hadn't grown any taller since then, either. Vistha-Shei continued down the softly lit cobblestone alley into the bazaar, at a casual stroll now. The streets of Daggerfall finally seemed to be slowing down for the night, with ramshackle stands and rickety booths having their wares packed up and their lanterns extinguished. Adventurers and other 'opportunists', as Claudius liked to call the less ethically minded travelers, were still milling about browsing what few stores remained open. Maren brushed a strand of fiery hair off her face. 

"How did you make that up back there? It sounded so natural."

Vistha-Shei chuckled to himself.

"Among my many hobbies," He informed her happily, "I fancy myself a bit of an actor. Have you ever heard of  _ 'The Dance of the Three-Legged Guar' _ ?"

Maren could only imagine what he implied by that. She knew exactly what the 'third-leg' the play's title alluded to was. While she hadn't seen the play when the troupe had rolled into town, her older sisters had returned home giggling and flushed after going to it. She had to stay home because she wasn't 'old' enough to go. That argument held as much weight as a sack of netch gas! Maren had pouted all week after that. Not that pouting ever got her anything, what with parents who had already dealt with the pouting of eight other girls. 

The two's walk home was cut short when they almost ran right into Claudius and Garig, comparing some cheap soulstones for sale, as if either had any idea what they were looking for in them. Garig was the first to catch them out of the corner of his eye.

"Hey! Just what are you two doing out here?" Garig inquired, shouting down the street at them. Claudius began to turn to see who Garig was yelling at.

"Azura confound them." Maren moaned into Vistha-Shei's ear. "I don't want to deal with these s'wits right now."

"We could just take the long way..." Vistha-Shei's husky whisper trailed off as he turned his attention back to Garig and Claudius. The Orc and Imperial had both started walking towards them. 

"HA! You'll never catch us alive!" Maren taunted, giggling. Vistha-Shei turned and booked it away from the two, laughing along with her. Claudius stood dumbfounded for a few moments before taking off after them, shouting. 

As they cut through a narrow alleyway, Maren couldn't help feeling giddy on the inside. She had spent most of her nights bored out of her mind. Now that she had a friend, maybe she didn't need to.

**Author's Note:**

> If you've made it this far, thank you! Wrote this a couple years back while I was bored. The idea came into my head and I spent the rest of the day typing it up. Figured it would do more good out on a site like this than sitting on my hard drive where no one else can read it. Please leave any constructive criticism, it is more than welcome. I'm always trying to improve my writing.


End file.
